Process of making vegetable-parchment fabrics



, (No Modl.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. E J. W. HYATT.

- PROCESS OF MAKING VEGETABLE PARGHMENT FABRIC.

No. 511,891. Patented Jan. 2, 1894.

I Y[III/[IIIIII/I/Il/I/IIIIIIIII 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

J. .W. HYATT. PROGESS OF MAKING VEGETABLE PARGHMENT FABRIC.

110. 511,891. Patented Jan, 2, 1894.

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JOHN IV. HYATT, OF NEWVARII, NEW .IERQEY.

PROCESS OF MAKING VEGETABLE-PARQHMENT FABRICS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 511,891, dated January2, 1894.

Application filed July 23,1892. Serial No. 440,988. (No specimens.) g

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN IV. HYATT, a citizen of the United States,residing'at Newark, Essex county, New Jersey, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Processes of Making Vegetable-ParchmentFabrics, fully described and represented in the following specificationand the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

The object of this invention is to manufacture sheets, tubes, and otherfabrics, of vegetable parchment, by cementing separate sheets of theparchment together to form a thick material. Such material, from onequarter of an inch and upward in thickness, is of great use in variousmanufactures; but can only be produced by cementing numer ous sheetstogether, and certain difficulties have been heretofore experienced inits production, for the reason that some solvents of cellulose cannot beproperly washed out of the thick material, and others are much moreexpensive and require a very slow process to expel the solvent.Sulphuric acid is the cheapest agent in use for parchmentizing sheets ofvegetable matter, and operates rapidly upon the cellulose; but is liableto convert the same into pulp if it acts too long upon the cellulose,and it cannot be removed by evaporation, and cannot be washed whollyfrom a thick mass of the material without great difficulty. Ghloride'ofzinc, although more expensive, is therefore commonly used in formingthick masses of parchmentized material, which are generally known asvulcanized fiber, but this agent as well as sulphuric acid injures thefiber if it remains permanently in contact therewith, and must thereforebe removed or neutralized. Such removal, which may be done by a bath ofsuitable reagent, is relatively slow in its operation, and the use ofchloride of zinc there fore involves a slow and relatively expensiveprocess.

I have discovered a means'of utilizing the rapid action of sulphuricacid in parchmentizing the vegetable matter, and of avoiding the expenseand slow operation of the chloride of zinc in the formation of thickbodiesof the material. In the use of chloride of zinc, theparchmentizing of the vegetable sheets and the cementing of themtogether is performed simultaneously; but in my process I employ twosteps, first, parchmentizing the sheets separately by the use ofsulphuric acid, and second, softening their surfaces and cementing themfirmly together by the use of a solvent which contains no injuriousagent, and the liquid in which evaporates readily from the mass. Anammoniacal solution of cupric oxide is such a solvent, and otherammoniacal solutions which perform the same functions may also be used.The evaporation of aqua-ammonia leaves the cupric oxide in the mass ofparchmentized material, but such agent is entirely neutral in relationto the parchment, except when associated with the ammonia, and itspresence causes no injury to the product. By the use of such a solvent,I find that a mass of parchmentized material may be built up of anyd'esired thickness, and the solvent wholly expelled with comparativerapidity; as the ammonia and the water combined with the same are whollyvolatile, and are easily discharged from the product by mere exposure tothe atmosphere.

My process therefore consists essentially in first parchmentizing thevegetable fiber by a suitable agent, as sulphuric acid, washing suchagent from the fiber and drying the same and then cementing a mass ofsuch parchmentized fiber together by the means of a suitable ammoniacalsolution. By the use of such agents, the process is performed with greatcheapness and rapidity, and objects of any desired shape and dimensionsmay be produced; as the product is somewhat pervious to water, and thewater and ammonia may thus be perfectly discharged from the same.

In forming layers or fiat masses, I parchmentize single sheets of paperof suitable quality with sulphuric acid, and thoroughly wash and dry thesame, which wholly removes the acid. The sheets require drying beforethe application of the copper solution, as the water if left in thesheets, would dilute the solution and prevent its action in the de sireddegree as a solvent. Sheets of the vegetable parchment, in suitablenumber to form a mass of the required thickness, are then treated withthe ammoniaeal solution of cupric oxide for a suitable length of time todissolve their surfaces, say half a minute, and are then pressedtogether with a very moderate pressure, sufficient to bring the surfacesuniformly into contact. The surfaces of the separate sheets are renderedso adhesive by this solution that the mass becomes completelyconsolidated in. four or five minutes, and the product may then be driedin the atmosphere, which for sheets under half an inch in thickness canbe accomplish ed in from one to three days.

To form objects of irregular shape, I employ parchment paper or thewaste pieces of the sheets made as above reduced to small grains, andimmerse them in the ammoniacal solution for a suitable length of time,and then press the same into a mold of the required form. In any case,the greater part of the solution is expressed from the mass ofparchmentized material, and may be preserved and used over and over ifits strength he maintained by the addition of ammonia as. g It will beunderstood that it is essential to dry the material, whatever its form,after it is parchmentized, before it is subjected to the solution forcementing the material together.

In the annexed drawings, I have illustrated the means for pressing fiatsheets together to form a thick layer, and have shown the'means forpreserving the ammoniacal solution, for preventing the dissipation ofthe ammonia from such solution, and for protecting the operator from theammonia vapor.

Inthe annexed drawings, Figurel is a of the apparatus with the exhausthood removed, and Fig. 2 is an elevation of the same with the parts insection, where hatched, on line m, w, in Fig. 1. Fig. 3showsinasectional View like Fig. 2, the apparatus for producing moldedobjects; and Fig. 4 is a plan of the receptacle and lower die.

I will refer first to Figs. 1 and 2, showing the apparatus for formingthick layers of parchmentized material. In these figures a is anindia-rubber tank or receptacle adapted to receive the sheets when readyfor pressure, the opposite sides of the tank being fitted to a bed I)and a platen c actuated by handscrew 01. Such a tank forms a yieldingreceptacle, whose Walls may be pressed upon the parchmentized material,and also serves to prevent the loss of the solution. The bottom of thetank is connected by a tube cwith the bottom of an iron receiver f,which is provided with a vertical plunger 9. The receiver and itsplunger are made sufficiently tight to prevent the escape of theammonia, and a pipe h with .cock h is also connected with the bottom ofthe receiver to supply ammonia gas, to strengthen the solution whendesired. A pipe is may be used to fill the receiver when the plunger israised, and the solution is forced into the tank by depressingtheplunger. The parchmentized sheets are then immersed in the tank andwhen their surfaces are suitably softened the plunger is raised towithdraw the solution; and the opposite sides then pressed'together byrotatingthe screw 01. The pressure, which is only intended to bring thesurfaces of the sheets into uniform contact, is sufficient to expel thegreater part of the ammoniacal solution, which passes from the tube einto the receiver In removing the solution from the tank a, the cock hin the pipe his closed, and a cock 6 in the tube e is opened,and thesolution is drawn into the receiver by lifting the plunger g to asuitable degree. 15y closing the cock e and opening the cock in the pipeh, ammonia gas under pressure may be admitted to the receiver beneaththe plunger, which operates to maintain the strength of the so lution inthe receiver until the same is required for subsequent use. A pipe iswith cock Z is provided to supply or draw off the solution when requiredThe hood j is provided over the tank a to collect the ammonia fumes, andan exhaust pipe m is connected with the hood to draw off the fumes andthus prevent the fumes from affecting the operator after the parchmentis placed in the tank.

In making objects or masses of irregular form, suitable dies would beused,- and surrounded by a suitable receptacle to collect the solutionand discharge it to a receiver as already described. y

In Fig. 3, the receptacle a is made rigid and dies m, n are shown withinthe same to form a spherical object, as a billiard ball. The lower die72 may be filled with a suitable volume of the softened vegetableparchment, and the upper die m would be pressed upon the same in anyordinary press; which is not shown in the drawings, as the operation ofsuch presses is already well known. In such an apparatus the vegetableparchment may be softened by admitting a supply of the cupric ammonia tothe receptacle, as described in connection with Fig. 2, or the parchmentmay be suitably softened by the solvent before it is applied to the dieswithin the receptacle. In either case, the solution expressed from thematerial within the dies would overflow within the receptacle and may bedischarged through the tube e into any suitable receiver.

The apparatus, like that shown in Fig. 2, is provided with an exhausthood j, to draw the fumes away from the operator. With the use of suchapparatus, the operator is protected from the ammonia fumes, and theammoniacal solution is collected and its strength maintained, so that itcan be repeatedly used.

To facilitate the formation of thick masses and the rapid drying of thesame, single sheets may be first made into layers one quarter of an inchin thickness and then dried and when the water and ammonia arethoroughly evaporated from such layers, several of the layers may becemented together by softening their surfaces with the ammonia coppersolution.

The layers when pressed together adhere with the same readiness assingle sheets, and the solvent is absorbed in the whole mass in such amanner that it is easily evaporated, being very small in amount, owingto the small number of joints.

My process is distinguished from others by its performance in threedistinct steps, and by the use of two distinct agents, the materialbeing first treated with a cheap solvent to parchmentize the fiber;second, washed and dried, and third, cemented together by the use of anammoniacal solution. The division of the process into three stepsgreatly facilitates the complete removal of the sulphuric acid or otherparchmentizing agent by which the fiber is primarily treated. The use ofan ammoniacal solution in the final step of the process greatlyfacilitates the final drying of the product,,and secures the entireabsence of all injurious ingredients within the mass.

Mechanical means are already well known for forming tubes and sheets ofthick material of parchmentized fiber, and I do not therefore claim anysuch means but only the means described herein for collecting andpreserving the ammoniacal solution when pressing the fiber together.

No process has been heretofore known for forming a plastic mass orcompound which could be molded into objects of homogeneous vegetableparchment,and no means has therefore been known of utilizing the scrapsof vegetable parchment which are formed by cutting sheets of suchmaterial into various articles. By my process, such scraps when reducedinto small particles may be exter-. nally softened and reunited bypressure into ahomogeneous mass, and many articles which are nowmade bycutting up sheets with great waste may thus be molded directly intoform. The scraps which are unavoidably produced in making certainarticles can also be utilized in the production of other articles.vention, both in the operation of the successive steps, and by thenature of the product, is therefore clearly distinguished from the meansheretofore known, which merely produce alayer of material in a singlestep or operation.

Having thus set forth the nature of my invention, what I claim hereinis 1. The process for making a mass of vegetable parchment, whichconsists in first parchmentizing the vegetable fiber by a suitableagent, second, washing such agent from the vvegetable fiber and dryingthe same, and

third, cementing the parch mentized fiber into a mass by means of anammoniacalsolution of cupric oxide or its equivalent, as set forth.

2. The process for making vegetable parchment fabric, which consists infirst parchmentizing sheets of vegetable fiber with sulphuric acid,washing the acid from such sheets, drying the same, dissolving thesurfaces of the sheets by an ammoniacal solution of cupric oxide andpressing the sheets together, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

JOHN W. HYATT.

Witnesses:

THOMAS S. CRANE, HENRY J. MILLER.

My inv

